Crane Named in Lions Squad

Hampshire’s Mason Crane has been named in the Lions squad for their tour of Australia starting next month.

Crane has experience down under having spent the 2016 winter in Australia for grade side Gordon CC.

He took incredible back-to-back seven wickets hauls which earned him a call-up to the New South Wales side in the Sheffield Shield, becoming the first overseas player since Imran Khan in 1984/85 to play state cricket in Australia.

The Lions squad includes four players; Crane, James Bracey, Ben Foakes and Dom Sibley, who are capped at Test level. 

Lancashire batter Josh Bohannon, Surrey wicketkeeper Jamie Smith and the Warwickshire pair of seamer Liam Norwell and opening batter Rob Yates are new to the Lions set-up.

The rest of the squad have had Lions experience in the past. Durham opener Alex Lees returns to the Lions for the first time in six years. The 28-year-old left-hander has been in excellent form in the LV= Insurance County Championship and will be looking to make an impression on this tour.

The Lions will be in camp alongside the England Ashes squad and will play two intra-squad matches (1 x 3-day and 1 x 4-day matches) in Queensland. They will also take on Australia A in a four-day match. Dates and venues are still to be confirmed. The party will return home on 16 December.

Coaching appointments will be announced in due course.

Lions squad to tour Australia: Tom Abell (Somerset), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Liam Norwell (Warwickshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Rob Yates (Warwickshire).